Thursday, May 27, 2010

CROQUEMBOUCHE - THE DARING BAKERS

When seeing the date on my calender, I had to curse. I could not believe that in less than a day it would be the 27th of May and that all members of the Daring Bakers' would be blogging about their latest creation, yet I still had not started making this month's challenge. Once again, I did not manage to start baking in advance for the event and had to run at the last minute in order to be able to blog about it on time. I cannot believe that the 27th has already arrived...

Well, to tell you the truth, for this very challenge I was not the least stressed by the work that was awaiting nor apprehensive about the idea of putting together a "Pièce Montée" because making choux pastry (remember my DB post about "Chocolate Éclairs"), pastry cream or caramel was nothing new to me. Most Daring Bakers members have already made one or the other during the course of the last months.

I thought to myself "Finely, this recipe is not going to cause any trouble". Well, as incredible as it might seem, I did come across a very annoying problem while making my cream puff shells. My first batch was a total flop. The cream puff shells looked so sad and were flat like omelets. this made me slightly panick and question my capacities as a baker. it was one of those moments when you lose all self-confidence and blame yourself for the bad results. I mean, boy were they fugly and totally unusable!

After doing a little research, I realized that if they had this saggy shape it was due to thefact that the pastry was far too wet. So, for my second attempt at making cream puff shells I decided to use smaller eggs (53g instead of 63g), thus incorporating less liquid to the choux pastry. My second batch was just perfect. The cream puff shells came out all puffy and looked very pretty. Phew!

The cream puffs shells rose beautifully, were crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. They tasted of butter and reminded me of popovers. As I wanted to give a summery flavor to my cream puffs, I chose to make lemon pastry cream. Needless to say that the pastry cream was delightfully fresh and irresistibly silky smooth. In order to stick the cream puffs together, I opted for the caramel glaze wich added a layer of oomph to the whole dessert and gave a dramatic look to the pièce montée.

I wish to thanks Cat for having chosen that awesome treat and for giving me the opportunity to prove to myself that I have the skills to put together such a festive dessert. I will certainly make this goodie very soon again!

~Pièce Montée or Croquembouche ~

Equipment required:• Several baking sheets• Parchment paper• A whisk• A pastry brush (for the egg wash)• A pastry bag and tip (a plain tip or no tip is best for piping the puff pastry; you can use a plain or star tip to fill the puff pastry with the cream)• A flat surface such as a baking sheet or cake board/stand on which to assemble your piece montée• Some of the items you may want to use to decorate your piece montée include ribbons, Jordan almonds, fresh flowers, sugar cookie cut-outs, chocolates, etc.

Method:1. Dissolve cornstarch in 1/4 cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk withthe sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat.2. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture.3. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook.4. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil.5. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla. Pour cream into a stainless steel/ceramic bowl. Press plastic wrap firmly against the surface.6. Chill immediately and until ready to use.

Method:1. Pre-heat oven to 220◦C (425° F). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.2. Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally.3. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.4. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.5. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.6. Add 1 egg (The batter will appear loose and shiny). As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.7. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets (Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide). Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.8. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).9. Bake the choux at 220◦C (425° F) until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.10. Lower the temperature to 180◦ C (350° F) and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more.11. Remove to a rack and cool.Remarks:They can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

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FILLING THE CHOUX

Method:1. When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet (Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze).

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HARD CARAMEL GLAZE

Ingredients:1 Cup (225g) Sugar1/2 Tsp Lemon juice

Method:1. Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand.2. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke.3. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color.4. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

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ASSEMBLINGTHE PIÈCE MONTÉE

You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert.For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer.Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Method:1. Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet.2. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place).3. When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate.

Once I saw a huge Croquembouche on a wedding I was such in awe of the delicate layers of the puff pastry... then I learned how to do puff pastry , I realised from there on it was not too difficult to make... great photos rosa.

Hi Rosa,What a fantastic job you have done!!Your lemon cream must be so refreshing and delicious!! My mouth is watering just for looking at your photos...Good look for the next challenge and don't be afraid because, you are surely a great baker!!Love,Lia.

So gorgeous!!! Great job figuring out your error and how to fix it! It can often be frustrating when something goes wrong if you don't know why...but SO rewarding when you are able to fix it and figure it out! congrats!

Rosa obviously you are at your best when you are under pressure! Your creations are always excellent I hope that you have some kind of event this summer so I can come and taste these incredible treats!

Your pièce montée looks magical, right out of a foodie fairytale. And you are right, the puffs really did taste like popovers! Great job at picking yourself up after the first batch didn't turn out. We've all been there. :)

Wow, I just knew you'd do a fantastic job but it's even more beautiful that I could have imagined. Sadly, my choux pastry was a flop but I wasn't aware that the mixture should be drier. I'd even taken extra large eggs and din't have time to repeat the challenge. Luckily we have you to keep the standard high :-)

Gorgeous! Lemon pastry cream and that dark caramel sound like a perfect combination! I usually leave these thing till the last minute too, but wouldn't have been able to produce such a lovely dessert as you!

I was just describing Croquembouche to someone the other day, them followed it up by saying ... I never made one. I should have stayed a DBer! ;) With the pate choux, I had the same issue when I made profiteroles a few weeks ago. But, you've jumped the hurdle and done a great job here! Looks wonderful. :) Cheers!

The combination of lemon pastry cream with this beautiful dessert looks fabulous! I know what you mean about time getting away from you. I seem to have that as a recurring problem...lol... Love the looks of this!

That's amazing - my grandma made perfect croquembouche, just she never made single cake, only as buns filled with cream and seasoned with sugar powder. Amazing taste from childhood.Sadly I'm able to make buns only - never succeed with cream :(

Rosa that looks amazing. Your pics really bring it to life. The lemon pastry cream sounds yummy too. I was lucky after reading all the comments on the DB forum I used smaller eggs and was able to get the choux pastry right first time. I really surprised myself in making this. Never thought I could do it!

Great job, Rosa! Very interesting and helpful info about the pate a choux. I was taught that you have to add eggs just until the batter has a certain viscosity and look to it--sometimes you need more and sometimes less.I love the lemon cream--so refreshing! I have a batch of lemon curd in the freezer and I was just this close to using that folded together with whipped cream as a filling.

Rosa...I don't even have to take a bite out of these puffs to know that you have indeed proven your skills...to us and more importantly to yourself.Great on you for continually participating in these very interesting challenges I keep witnessing. Hopefully, one day soon...I'll do the same.Thank you very much for your dedication.Flavourful wishes, Claudia

I don't know how you got it together so quickly to create these gorgeous croquembouche. Good thing you figured out how to solve the floppy dough problem. Great work Rosa, love the idea of the lemon pastry cream. xo

I have always swooned over croquembouche ... there is just something about those towers of sweet bliss that almost make me faint every time I see them! Yours look fantastic. What a gorgeous version of this classic dessert!